Category Archives: Design

Attended Ghostly International : Of Art and Artifice series this past weekend in NYC. The event was inspiring – so full of passionate and creative individuals. Saw some incredible art but left especially enamored with the Art of Matthew Shlian. Seriously beautiful and you better bet I’m saving up my pennies to get my hands on one of his pieces.

I went to see the Jean Paul Gaultier From Sidewalk to Catwalk exhibit at de Young Museum in Golden Gate park; beforehand I didn’t know much about JPG except that he was the designer behind those odd torso perfume bottles sold in cans and Madonna’s pointy cone bra. It was one of those occasions where people who truly understand fashion (or pretend to) would say it was a deeply moving religious fashion experience. As someone who enjoys fashion but doesn’t buy into the whole “fashion is my religion and Channel is the high priest” movement I found the exhibit to be wildly entertaining. JPG is a creative genius—no question about this. Each piece was mind-bloggling, took hundreds of hours to construct and completely original. You never wagged your finger and thought: “Naughty, naughty, naughty! That piece is a little reminiscent of one in Stella McCartney’s resort collection.” His inventiveness was the luminescence around what felt at times like a creatively dark exhibit (there were some Shades of Gray dominatrix type set ups—see below). After viewing pieces like the white tribal wedding gown, which only a betrothed goddess of a Mayan temple would wear (below), you can understand exactly why his pieces are adored and worn by celebrities like Lady Gaga and Madonna. On a more interesting note, some of the mannequins in the exhibit blinked, peered around, sang and were better at fluttering their eyelashes than I am. Speaky! (Spectacular and freaky.) Lastly, let us talk about the lip smackingly delicious museum food at de Young Museum cafe. Who needs exhibits when you can make a beeline for the café and get slow roasted porchetta tartine, gruyere cheese, dijon, pear chutney, arugula and shaved fennel for $12 bucks?

We got to work this morning and found the giant Albert Einstein statue on Constitution Ave (near my office) had been yarn bombed overnight by Olek otherwise known as “Crocheted Olek.” She’s a Polish yarn bomber that stealthily covers large public sculptures (and people) with expertly knitted crochet suits; she has also exhibited all over the world. How does she do it? When does she do it? Who knows, but it is fabulous. Unfortunately the quote in the title of this post rings true because currently she seems to be in a spot of legal trouble with the Brits.

It’s not often a recipe will entice me to purchase dinnerware. But after seeing this frosty, watermelon margarita drink recipe featured on the Anthropologie magazine site, I was immediately obsessed with acquiring these playful drinking glasses. They would effortlessly liven up any summer dinner party. Great marketing from Anthropologie. Here are some other festive drinkware choices to spice up your summer drinks: Dwell Studio, Crate and Barrel, Pier One, World Market, Table Art and Anthropologie.

Artist Paige Smith has been creating these amazing crystals out of paper (!!!) in all shapes and sizes and fitting them into walls and pipes around LA. I would love to stumble across these little treasures while on my walks throughout D.C. Can you imagine, the Supreme Court studded with geodes? I’ve always been fascinated with street art and I am loving these.

I’m in love with this spring/summer video for Morgane Sezalory’s French fashion brand Les Composantes. For even more inspiration you can take a peak inside Morgane’s Parisian digs over on Design Sponge.